The Meaning of Family
by SamCyberCat
Summary: As his best friend Honda would always be there for Jounouchi, even if that meant having to share a house with him. Oneshot, HondaxJounouchi or TristanxJoey.


Done for a contest at the YGO/GX/5Ds Yaoi Club on dA.

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It was 4:00am.

It was 4:00am and raining.

And normally 4:00am would be considered a very early time for someone to get up, but in this particular case 4:00am was considered the point of time when Honda came to terms with that being the end of any chance he would have of getting to sleep that night. It could hardly even be considered night anymore.

This would have been easier to accept had it not been dark outside and, as he'd noted before, raining heavily. These facts were difficult to avoid when his front door was wide open. The darkness spread all around and the patter of the rain was very loud.

It could be considered a longing to just close the door, blocking out the rain and go climb into bed so he could catch up with the sleep he had failed to get that night. But this would not happen. Because when a friend needs you sleep can wait. And a friend needed him right now.

Jounouchi was stood at the doorway, not for the first time that night. He was hunched over and panting. Honda half suspected he'd run most of the way here. Each of his hands contained a suitcase, both full to the bursting and messily packed. The suitcases looked worn, much like their owner did right now.

It was true Honda had seen Jounouchi beaten up before. Back when they were two bullies together Jounouchi got beaten up all the time. When Yugi had saved them from Ushio they'd both got hurt pretty badly… But that had been from other bullies and other thugs. You expected them to do that. You didn't expect someone's own family to do that…

Not that he thought Jounouchi was entirely innocent by any stretch. There was no doubt that there had been blows either way that night. But they needed to come to terms with the fact that things weren't ever going to work for them.

And Jounouchi had come to terms with that.

The first time he'd come to Honda's house that night he'd been ranting and raving, barging around, trying very hard to control his anger but obviously failing. Honda didn't interrupt him until he was finished, he knew Jounouchi needed to vent. He knew that if he stopped him from venting then it'd just come out later and maybe it'd be Yugi or Anzu who had to see this side of him. Honda didn't want that. He knew Jounouchi. It was best he dealt with it.

When he'd stopped shouting he'd slumped down in one of the chairs, staring at the floor and not even acknowledging that Honda was there. By this time he didn't even acknowledge that he was a guest in Honda's home. The apartment Honda lived in had long since become a refuge where Jounouchi would come when things with his father got too bad. Many a time Honda would return home from school to find Jounouchi already there, sitting in the same chair, filled with hatred for the same man.

It didn't bother Honda really. He was used to people being there. Coming from a large family people had always been around when he was growing up and once he moved into a house of his own it felt lonely without someone else to keep him company. And Jounouchi was company, even when he was just sitting there, filled with anger, refusing to talk at all.

Though that night Honda had got him to talk. He expressed his views about how he felt things would never get better between Jounouchi and his father, he expressed that he felt Jounouchi had changed from the thug he used to be, but staying in that house just chained him to the part of his life he wanted to leave behind, and surprisingly enough Jounouchi had listened to him.

Then he had got up out of the chair and walked out of the door. He muttered something about coming back, though Honda already knew this. He had no doubt in his mind that when Jounouchi agreed to move out of his father's house that it would be here he came to. There didn't need to be anything said about that, the agreement went unspoken.

So he'd waited. And waited. And at one point he'd considered going to find Jounouchi to see if he needed help, but he knew that business between him and his father was strictly something the group were not allowed to get involved in. That was an unspoken agreement too. So he waited some more.

And now it was 4:00am and Jounouchi was standing on his doorstep dripping wet and carrying these suitcases.

Honda moved aside to let him through. The solemn face of his friend was not ready for conversation yet.

The suitcases were dropped down on either side of the hallway. Jounouchi then ran angry fingers through the strands of his hair. He was soaked. Hopefully in those suitcases were a change of clothes because he'd certainly need one soon…

For the first time that night Jounouchi met Honda's gaze. The eyes were still blank. He certainly wouldn't get over this anytime soon. When he got this angry sometimes it'd take days for him to calm down. Then he'd become the happy, smiling, slightly goofy Jounouchi who they all liked to see. It didn't take much observing to know that Jounouchi was happiest while he was out saving the world, far away from his dad.

But right now he was faced with the ugly side of Jounouchi. The side only he could deal with because no one else knew Jounouchi like he did.

They stared for a few moments then the rain-covered boy decided he'd be the first to talk, "…He wasn't glad to see me go."

"I can imagine."

It was good that Jounouchi had spoken, that meant it was all right for Honda to try and communicate with him without being blatantly ignored.

"He should have seen it coming…" Jounouchi went on, "I wouldn't look after him forever. Maybe now he'll pull himself out of that chair and get to work himself…"

"It'll be better for both of you," Honda agreed.

That was as much of an exchange as he'd get for now. There was no thanks for allowing him to stay here, there didn't need to be. When you were as good of friends as Honda and Jounouchi were looking out for each other was just expected. They might have taken each other for granted in that sense but it worked.

Honda moved the suitcases to the spare room where Jounouchi would be staying, not for the first time. It shouldn't be called a spare room anymore; it was Jounouchi's room now. And it would probably be that way for a long time.

He'd expected to find Jounouchi slumped back on his chair as he came back out of the room, but he wasn't. There was the sound of a kettle clicking from the kitchen and water being poured out. A few minutes later his friend walked out carrying two cups in his hands, putting them roughly down on the coffee table as he reached it.

This was the first time Jounouchi had done something like that. It was almost an acknowledgement that he was a resident in this house now, not a guest, and would act that way from now on.

At that moment Honda realised that Jounouchi was more than a friend now. He was family. He was a part of his life that would always be there, just like his mother, his father and all of his siblings. In a way he was more than them even, because he was always there while they were not. And if the two of them lived together for the rest of their lives then Honda might well be okay with that.


End file.
